Born on 12 January 1884 in Waco, Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan played a gun-slinger and rode bareback in silent films, took New York by storm in 1906, and earned a salary of $700,000 as a speakeasy hostess. Here are highlights from a life led at full speed until 5 November 1933. Meet TEXAS GUINAN!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Texas Guinan: Free Event 2015

MAE WEST and her good friend TEXAS GUINAN will be celebrated in New York City during August 2015. All are welcome to attend.• • Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era • • • • 3 events commemorate the Brooklyn bombshell’s August birthday in the room where she faced a judge who sent her to jail • • • • New
York, NY, July 13, 2015 — During the 1920s, when Mae West was trying to
build her career, the building all dramatists and actresses tried to
avoid——Jefferson Market Court at 425 Sixth Avenue—— was the very site
that made a little-known performer world famous. When N.Y. District
Attorney Joab Banton had Mae West arrested and paddy wagoned to
Jefferson Market Police Court on February 9, 1927, the controversial
Brooklyn entertainer made global headlines for the first time. The
actress-writer also served time in Jefferson Jail. At her side, covering
the trial for the New York Journal American, was Texas Guinan, Mae’s
friend and a frequent passenger in the police department’s Black Maria
herself.• • In the
1920s, though most Broadway headliners avoided negative publicity, these
two diamond-draped divas flouted convention, defied police, and became
as well known for being handcuffed as for blazing their way onto theatre
marquees. They were “onstage outlaws” during the Prohibition Era.• • When Mae
West [1893-1980] and Texas Guinan [1884-1933] weren’t being chased by
the purity police, they found time to enjoy the speakeasies, bookshops,
restaurants, night spots, and theatres in Greenwich Village. In 1907,
Texas-born Texas Guinan moved to New York, where she resided at 72
Washington Square South, then at 17 West 8th Street. The speakeasy queen
owned bracelets set with 567 diamonds each and a fancy armored car that
once belonged to the King of Belgium. • • To celebrate Mae West's birthday on August 17, 2015, there will be an illustrated talk: "Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era.”
Rare vintage images will show you the buildings around Washington
Square as these two headline-makers saw them. Sites include the Village
speakeasies where Mae socialized and bent elbows with Texas Guinan,
Walter Winchell, Jack Dempsey, George Raft, and Barney Gallant;
significant theatres; court rooms where Mae and Texas fought City Hall;
and off-beat addresses that made an impact. Rare Texas Guinan silent
films will be shown and Mae West’s Jefferson Jail poetry will also be
read.• • The speaker LindaAnn Loschiavo is a Greenwich Village historian and dramatist; her plays include “Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets” and “Diamond Lil, Queen of the Bowery.”

— — — — Who, What, When, Where — — — —• • What: Onstage Outlaws — — Mae West and Texas Guinan during the Lawless Prohibition Era• • When: Monday, 17 August 2015 — — from 6:30 — 8:00pm (doors open at 6:00pm)• • Where: Jefferson Market Library, 425 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (at West 10th Street)• • Extra:
to celebrate the birthday of Brooklyn bombshell Mae West, on August 3rd
and on August 10th, her films will be shown at 6:00pm. The first one, "Sextette" [1978] will be screened on August 3rd. Then "Go West Young Man"
[1936] will be screened on August 10th. The August 17th multi-media
presentation will feature light refreshments (courtesy of East Village
Cheese) and a raffle. You could win rare silent films starring Texas Guinan. Or
maybe a rare reprint by The New Yorker’s caricaturist Alfred Freuh or
by a famous N. Y. Times illustrator.• • Refreshment sponsor: East Village Cheese• • Subway: IND line to West Fourth Street; PATH train to West 9th Street• • Fee: FREE — — no entry fee for the three Mae West events on August 3rd, August 10th, and August 17th, 2015• • Phone: 212- 243-4334• • Website for all things Mae West: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com• • Texas Guinan said: "I would rather have a square inch of New York than all the rest of the world."• • Mae West said: "I enjoyed the court room as any other stage." • • Mae West told the jail matron: "Whaddya mean strip? I thought this was a respectable place!" • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Texas Guinan is in some scenes, too.Watch a scene on YouTube.• • Exciting news is on the horizon. More anon._________________________________________________________Source:http://texasguinan.blogspot.com/atom.xmlTexas Guinan• • Photo: Texas Guinan • • with Mae West at her trial, 1930 • •NYCTexas Guinan.